AcosmicRN

Yes! You need to start looking for a new place. 9 pts is not an acceptable workload for one person, except in emergencies. You should condition yourself for 7 pts on an orth/neuro/med surg floor, but anything over that maximum is not fair to you. You need to start looking for another job, while you still have one. That 7 nurses have left since you started is an obvious sign that the hospital is a revolving door. I was once told by a speaker at a convention that you should aim for the best place to work in the area you want to live in. You may not get the job tomorrow, but you should be putting in your application, trying to get on PRN, whatever. It may take a year, but so what? That year is going to pass whether you try or not. Give yourself some hope: start managing your career as a nurse now. Go for the best, even if you have to stay in the worst while you're trying to get there. At the hospital where I work, 7 is the max on a floor like yours. 6 is the usual. Acosmic

I sympathize with anyone who does that well in nursing school and then doesn't pass, but this sounds a bit like a divorce-story. You know, the kind where you only hear the one side and the one telling the story is always a saint who suffered tremendously at the hands of the other. When I was in school, it was a major effort to fail someone in clinicals. If they did, it was for a very specific reason. If you don't want to share that with us, I can understand, but it's hard to agree you were hard done by when, if I was there, I might have agreed with the decision, you know? All we are left with is that you are 57, and I feel like I'm being corralled into accepting you were failed because of an age conspiracy. Can you be any more specific on the reasons they failed you in clinical? You sound like you were a great student. Acosmic

What you all say about self-esteem is critically important, I believe. I think low self-esteem is at the root of most interpersonal problems between nurses and people in general. Acosmic

I wasn't trying to be rude with the comments about NPs, and certainly, I wasn't trying to be rude to the OP. Hopefully, I was persuading her not to be an NP. It's sound advice; that's how NPs are treated where I come from. NPs derive their status because they retain an RN, and this doesn't get them anywhere with MDs. To the MDs, they are the assitants who go and do daily rounds for them on patients who aren't critical. That's just the way it is. The nurses where I work don't consider NPs doctors, nor do they consider them part of the "RN" profession. They're just out there somewhere in-between. Granted, they typically earn more than an RN, so there you go. I would encourage anyone with a good heart, energy, and intelligence to be a nurse. I believe in nursing. The array of assitants an MD uses (PA, NP, tech, etc) is not something I'm going to encourage. I'm a nurse. The world needs nurses. There is no shortage of MDs. That's just my opinion; feel free to disagree, but don't acuse me of being everyone in this group you never liked before. It's just not me. Acosmic

The way the world is right now, there are three ways to become an RN. Diploma from a hospital based school, ADN, BSN. I haven't heard of any MSN programs that include the basic nursing school. The truth is, you are employed as an RN when you are employed. The truth is you are an RN when the state gives you that license. Promotion potential? Advanced practice? BSN Bedside nursing, staff nursing, all the things that make nursing great? ADN, diploma I chose an ADN for the following reasons: I hate managing I don't consider NPs or CRNAs to be nurses in the real sense, and I want to be a nurse. I have a B.Sc. in Liberal Arts where I studied psychology, sociology, writing, literature and science to my heart's content. I'm done with school. Bedside nursing, to me, is the greatest power a person can have. I'm going to be 40 in September; I'm clear on what I want in life. But other people have their eyes set in other directions. For me, in this time of my life, I'm through trying to climb the ladder of success as the world would have it. I have found honor, glory, power, and the keys to the kingdom of God at the bedside of patients. That's my $0.02 Acosmic

Where I work, less than a dollar an hour is given for new grads with a BSN. The hospital makes no descrimination in hiring between ADN or BSN. The managers are BSN, but not necessarily the assistant managers. In the education department, they have masters, and the main instructor isn't even a nurse, he has an MPH. I hope they make BSN the entry level position and grandfather in ADNs like me so I will get paid more as the salaries go up. Acosmic

I hear you. That sounds like a load that is too much for one RN. The max on a floor like that should be 7. Or at least that's what seems to be the norm (It really should be 6.). Why are they understaffed? Do people not show up, or does the hospital just assume nurses can work with 8 patients?The reason I ask is because where I work, we have 4 patients (an intermediate cardiac floor). It's the only place I've worked, so I wonder about how nurses handle situations like you describe. Acosmic

Well now, here's the thing: your nic suggests you have your eyes set on nurse practitioner, if this is so, I suggest you get used to this preceptor. Why? Because it's my experience that NPs work for doctors and are treated by them basically the way aids are treated by RNs, and that's only fitting. They are, after all, doctors' assitants. In some states they may have their own practices, but in mine, and in my hospital, they do all the redundant work the MD (their employer) doesn't want to do. Nurses regard them like MDs (which is not really very high) and MDs regard them as nurses (which, again is not really very high). Since being treated arrogantly and as a second class HCP is what your future holds for you as an NP, I'd use this preceptor as a good chance to get some experience at it. As a future NP, it may be exactly what you need. But, of course, you will make more money, and it's amazing what people can put up with for money. If you choose to be a real RN as a career, then my sympathies are with you, and my advice would be wholly different. Either way good luck. Acosmic

I'm curious SCRN1: I read all your reply, but I have to get some clarification on your very first point. What is your typical patient load, and what kind of floor do you work on? And, if you would indulge me, is your hospital a small for-profit hospital or is it a larger, maybe county, hospital? Thanks for your response. Acosmic

Thank you for your reply, because this is exactly what I am talking about. I have a problem. I feel a certain way, and you blame me for it. You put me down for it. You make me responsible for it and ignore the fact that I was talking about arrogant, negative people, which I think most people would agree do exist and are irritating to be around. When I read "Pro-team building," and "We strive to have the best unit in the hospital." I immediately got cold chills, because while I strive to be the best nurse I can be, I really don't want to be "on top" of anyone. Competition is kind of against my religion--whacked out as it is. You know, even the negative people on my floor smile--they have to or they get bad evaluations. But when they smile and greet you, you feel like you just got greeted by a car salesman on the lot. It's not a real greeting; it's not a real smile. They don't really like you. But you are right: I do have a problem. When I encounter a negative person or people, I can do one of three things: I can fight back, I can avoid, or I can embrace them as I would any other person with an illness. I'm not at the place where I can embrace them, but I know I need to get there. Acosmic

Indeed. They are very cliquish. They all seem to hang out together and eat lunch together. On the rare ocassion I have sat with them (if they're in the cafeteria, and no one else from work is there, I have to sit with them--it's kind of a hospital-cultural thing), I notice that they are always talking bad about somone or some patient. Even though they seem happy together--like highschool--they are engaging in conversation that can only elicit bad feelings. They are literally recharging their negativity. And I'm glad you're one of those irritatingly perky people. I'll bet you don't realize (because people don't generally tell people this) that you make the day for many of your coworkers. When I come on the floor, the first thing I look at is who's there with me, and I say to myself, "Oh, she's cool; He's friendly; She was nice to me last time; I can probably ask him for help if I need it," etc. I thank God for irritatingly perky people--so carry on our wayard son! Acosmic

Yes. I think your advice is exact, and it is all that can be done. I think one thing I need to wake up to is that the more positive I become, the less un-positive people are going to like me and the more negative they will seem to me. But if I'm any good at all at laying bricks for the kingdom of God, I need to find a way to embrace them as well. I mean, it's like you say, they really do have a problem. If that's the case, then I should regard them and treat them as I would a mentally ill patient. I have compassion for mentally ill patients, so why not mentally ill coworkers? I must find a way. Thanks for the advice. Acosmic

:uhoh21: The posters below are correct: follow your facilities guidelines for medication errors.

I'm trying to get to the root of negativity in nursing, so I was wondering what makes you drag yourself to work, what it is you hate the most about going to work, or what it is that makes you feel negative when you're at work. Arrogant people make me feel negative--especially new nurses who were just one semester ahead of me in school. They acted arrogant in school, and now they walk the floor all determined like they know exactly what they're doing and like saying "Hi" to me would be too much time out of the important things they have to do. I hate it when people try to make me feel like less than they are. I don't need to be superior to anyone, I just don't like being disregarded, and being disregarded tends to make me feel negative. What do you hate? And what suggestions do you have for me? Acosmic

No. I've never cared for anyone like that, or for that matter, seen anyone or heard of anyone with "heart cancer." Does it exist? In fact, is there any cancer that comes from muscle cells? Acosmic